If
you'd like a brief summary of the course before
starting it, go the Syllabus. The
"Syllabus" is simply a quick summary of the main
elements of this website.

What is this course about? Try these
questions: What makes for "good" literature? Does it have to be old
and/or crusty and difficult to read? Or can it also be exciting and
enjoyable, and either very modern or very ancient? Can short stories,
graphic novels, songs, and popular books (like Lord of the Rings
be considered true "literature"? What are different ways of writing about
literature--or just writing literature? Can literature affect us
deeply? Is literature important?

Follow your head, your heart, and your
interests through hundreds and even thousands of years of storytelling
throughout the world and imagination in our Western literatures.
By the end of this course, you will have many answers--and perhaps even
more you could ask--about many of these questions and much more.

A brief note: This Intro to Lit course
section emphasizes world literature. This means you have the option to
choose works (in English) not only from ancient through modern times,
but also from a number of countries and cultures in different parts of
the world.

I'm very glad to be working with you. Most students who finish
this
course with a "C" or higher, when they take it from me, say that they
have enjoyed the course quite a bit. They also say how much the course has helped them understand literature, culture, and
thinking and writing about literature.

---Important: Please read these 3
very important steps right away!

1. The first
class for attendance can be satisfied in one of these two ways:

(A) Write 600+ words summarizing the main
web pages (in the navigation bar above) in this website. Use the following
Underlined Subtitles and write 75+ words after each subtitle about
its web page. (Find links to these web pages above on the top navigation
bar.)

Home
Weekly Assignments
Books and Webs
How To Do Homework
Grading
Attendance and Extra Credit
FAQs
D2L

OR

(B) Attend an optional first night in
person in a computer lab during the first week of the course, as follows,
where we will look at the course website together, and you can ask questions
and meet some of your classmates:

Spring 2017: Thurs., Jan. 11, B-143, 6:00-8:00
pm

(The room is a computer lab in the "Business"
building. Click here to see a "Map of Campus.")

Attending in either way ("A" or "B" above) will
give you the same amount of attendance credit for Week 1 of the course.

2. Please also determine whether you are ready for this
time-consuming class!
This class will take a lot of time, and it demands a good deal of work. It
is a 4-credit class--which means it is about 33% more time-consuming
(with a third more work!) than the usual 3-credit class: Be prepared to do the national collegiate
standard for the 1st and 2nd years of college of twelve (12) hours of
work per week to do well in a 4-credit class.

3. Third, is this only your 1st or 2nd online
class?
If so, are you sure that you are ready for independently taking an online
class? If this is only your first or second online class, please go now to

I am
glad to be working with you in this online section of "English
1140-Introduction to Literature" for this semester! I expect the course to be interesting and fun.
There are both homework assignments (sent by email) and online classes to
attend (by D2L messages). The course study materials include work
with classic fairy tales, Greek myth, classic American novels, and recent
classic British fantasy literature, along with the option to read a number
of literary readings for extra credit or replacement credit.

In
addition to online attendance, we'll be seeing (either individually, alone,
online or by video; or physically, in person) two different plays. And we'll
be seeing "literary" art (either individually, alone, online; or physically,
in person, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on a Thurs. night). I hope
you'll enjoy the class!

I'll
look forward to getting your Week 1 attendance assignment--or seeing you in
the Week 1 optional computer-lab meeting! If you have questions or concerns ahead of time, please feel free
to email, call, or drop by during my on-campus office hours in the spring. Click
here for information about my office hours and

But instead of "at," use "@"; and instead of "dot," use a period.
For example, if you were emailing john at smith dot net, you would write it
as john@smith.net.

Please do not use my IHCC email address. My emails there are
delivered slowly, sometimes, occasionally several days later. In addition,
that email system is down more often than my email address above.

I will be sending you emails each week. If you
are NOT getting emails from me each week, please note that (1) I am using
your email address that you gave the school (if you want me to use a
different or additional one, let me know!), and (2) occasionally, a
student's private email system may reject email from people it does not
recognize, or from people who send emails frequently. For this reason,
you may need to add my email address to your "safe sender" or "trusted sender"
list.

(If you do not know how to make me a "safe" or "trusted sender," then please
use your email system's "help" function or, if there is none, then look in
"tools," "options," "settings," or other places where you are allowed to
control who sends you email and who doesn't.)
---

(A) Check email twice weekly: check your
email for messages from me: I use email to announce visits to plays/museums and other
changes/additions. I also return - marked - all
email homework you send to me. SAVE A COPY OF EVERY HOMEWORK
EMAIL YOU SEND TO ME! Sometimes email gets lost. You may need
proof that you sent it to me. The best way to do this is to email
the homework not only to me but ALSO to yourself! Put your own email
address in the CC or BCC line whenever you email me your homework.

(B) If you are not receiving emails from me at least once per week,
contact me immediatelyat my home email address so I can get your email address onto
my email list.
(C)
Also check the "FOL Records"
weekly: make sure you are getting credit for both email homework and for
discussion-board attendance. There is a link to the records at the
top of every web page in this course website--at the far right of the top
navigation bar.

If you have a question or run into a problem, especially in the
first several weeks of the course, check the FAQs
("Frequently Asked Questions"): there is a link to the FAQs at the top of
every page in this course website--at the right of the top navigation bar.
And if checking the FAQs doesn't give you an answers, then definitely
email me at my home email address, or give me a call 9 am-9 pm:
612-870-7024.

Please remember that the official "Schedule" of weekly assignments, though
probably 98% accurate, may have additions and/or changes made on occasion.
This is especially true for those choosing the option of attending in-person
events: these may not be scheduled until several weeks before they happen.
Other changes occasionally are made, too. Because of such changes, you
should always check for updates. If there are any significant changes, I
also will tell you about them in the weekly "Eng 1140" email that I send at
the beginning of each new week.
---

Your grade for the class is based on a system
of X's, with 100 X's (100 points or 100%)
equaling a perfect A+. 90 X's is the minimum for an "A," 80 X's for a
"B," etc., as shown above.. You choose what grade you want.
You may earn your X's in four ways:

(a) Homework (about 55
X's)

(b) Attendance (about 35
X's)

(c) Attendance "Events" (about 10 X's)

(d) Extra credit (100
min. = 1 X)

______________________________________

TOTAL: "a"-"c" above: about 100+ X's

Absolute Minimums for Passing:

To get a "D" or better in this class, you must
do the following:

Earn at least 60 X's/points overall.

Earn at least half of your X's/points from
regularly assigned homework and attendance.

Be active in the class at least once every two
weeks (or be dropped).

Other
Minimums:

At least half of all the X's/points you
earn--for whatever grade you earn--must come from the regularly assigned
homework and attendance.

When you write homework, discussion board
messages, or extra credit, the writing must meet the minimum required number
of words. (E.g., D2L messages must be 200+ w. each.)

An "X" in this class is assumed to be the
equivalent of 100 minutes of work.

This is a 4-credit class (not 3 credits), so
it assumes a workload of at least 12 hrs./wk. (not 9
hrs./wk.) to receive an "A." Some
people--those who read more slowly or more thoroughly and/or who write more
slowly or take a lot of time while they write --may need more than 12
hrs./wk. to receive an "A." See below for more about workload.

This class is a 4-credit class.
The hours required
for this online class are not less than the same class when
taught on campus in a regular, physical classroom. An online class
should not have "fewer hours" just because it is online (except possible
time saved in driving to and from campus), nor should it be "easier"--the
workload is supposed to be the same. You do not get to "skip class
time" in an online class: instead, time normally spent in a physical
classroom on campus is supposed to be converted, in an online course, to
additional time spent online. If any time is saved, it may only be in
not having to drive to school.

In fact, the overall work load of a
course, whether online or traditional, is governed by a national
understanding among colleges and universities. This understanding
states that a first- or second-year college course should require about 3
hours of work each week for every credit (counting both class attendance and
homework time). This would mean that in a 4-credit class, the total
amount of work time--both class attendance and homework time--should be
about 12 hrs./wk. Some people may need to do more than that if they want more than a "D" or a
"C." If you cannot handle this much work per week, then you should
drop this course.
---

There will be five "events" that count as
attendance. You may do them alone, either online or on your own time, or you
may do them as in-person activities:

1. An initial introduction to the course, either
by writing 500+ w. (as described above) about the website; or by attending a
computer-lab class in person in the first week of class.

2. A "literary" visit to one or more museums.
This can be accomplished by visiting online museums and looking for
"literary" references, objects, or art pieces in those museums, and then
writing 300 w. about the experience, for a total of 200 min. of time (3 hrs.
and 20 min.) or by attending a Thurs. evening group tour at the Minneapolis
Institute of Art (with Richard visiting with you, and a tour given by a
docent of the museum) and writing about 300 w. about the experience.

3. Seeing two live plays or the equivalent
(about 800 min. total, for both). This
can be accomplished by watching specifically assigned plays/videos for this
purpose and writing 600 words about them for a total time of 800 min. Or it
can be accomplished by attending one Inver Hills College play on your own
and one professional play at a theater using reduced-rate group tickets
(purchased and organized by Richard), and writing 300+ w. about each play
experience.

Do NOT buy the books immediately, even the
Tatar fairy tales book, until you read how to purchase the books! You do NOT
need to buy all of the books, just some of them! (And if you try to buy the
Tatar book on your own, it's possible to make a very expensive and incorrect
choice!) So, please go to the

Week 15 Consultations: In early or
mid-November, please send 2-3 times
that work for you among those listed below. You may have an in-person consultation in my B-136 office at
IHCC at one of the times
below, once I have established the schedule of consultations for this current
semester.

Or you may choose a telephone or Skype consultation
at a time that we mutually work out: both of us would be on our computers with a
copy of your paper in front of us on the computer that you emailed to me, and
you'd phone or Skype me at the time we have scheduled. Telephone or Skype
consultation times tend to work best for me in the early afternoons of some
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Consultations are not required. But if you do not
have a consultation, you will not get your 2 X's of attendance credit for it.

During the consultation: The purpose is
to talk about your Final Project. Bring your Draft 1 and your Draft 2 final project
to the consultation. I'd prefer to see your D-2 at the consultation, if at
all possible, even if only part of it.

Why a Consultation? Each consultation is worth
2 X's/points. Even though it is only 15 minutes, those 15 minutes of meeting
with me can be invaluable sometimes.

Days/Times/Dates for Fall 2017

(More times will be added if needed.)

Please email three possible times in
order of preference, first preference first. Please choose the
earliest times you can make it.

Tues., April 25 (15
min. each)

3:15 pm--

3:30 pm--Angel S. (or 3:15 or 3:45)

3:45 pm--

4:00 pm--

4:15 pm--

4:30 pm--

4:45 pm--

5:00 pm--

5:15 pm--

5:30 pm--

5:45 pm--

6:00 pm--

Thurs., April 27 (15
min. each)

3:15 pm--

3:30 pm--

3:45 pm--

4:00 pm--

4:15 pm--

4:30 pm--

4:45 pm--

5:00 pm--

5:15 pm--

5:30 pm--

5:45 pm--

6:00 pm--

Skype and/or phone: best time
is early or late afternoon Mon., Wed., Fri., or Sat. Please email your
request with three possible times in these timeframes.

In person in South Minneapolis
coffeehouse: I can meet with you 2-6:00 pm in South Minneapolis on
most days Mon., Wed., Fri., & Sat. Suggest times/days.

Tues.,
May 2 (10-15 min. each)

5:00 pm--

5:15 pm--

5:30 pm--

5:45 pm--

6:00 pm--

More detail: If none of these dates or times work for
you, contact me for additional dates/times. I also can set up a
phone or Skype consultation with you, either at these times or at other
times. Phone or Skype consultations require that you first send me
an attachment or email of your paper so we can look at it at the same
time while talking on the phone or Skype.

In addition, I am glad to meet with students
at a coffeehouse near me--on Hennepin Ave. in the Uptown/Loring Park
area of Minneapolis--on Mon., Wed., Fri., or Sat., mid- to
late-afternoon.
--Richard

Conclusion

I hope you enjoy the class! Many people are surprised, by the end of it, not only by how
much they have learned but also by how much better they feel they now understand
some of the deeper and broader aspects of literature and of writing related to
it. If you need
anything, be sure to contact me by
email, phone, or in person.

---

Above photo: Discussion of ideas
in a classroom.
IHCC online classes create such discussions on D2L.

English 1140
is a first-year college introduction to
literature. This section of 1140
is mostly online but with a few
online and in-person options for plays and meeting
with the instructor. This online section uses
four primary sources for information and
activities:
(1) this website
(2) online and print books
(3) emails for
homework
(4) D2L for discussions.

Click here to see the short summary of the
course website, called a Syllabus.

Scroll down or
click here for
the following
parts of
this "Home" page:

Text and images are
copyrighted by Richard Jewell (unless otherwise noted) and may be used
for nonprofit academic purposes with no permission required. This
website is for a course at Inver Hills Community College, a two-year
college with full national Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
accreditation. (Some four-year degrees also are offered on-campus in
collaborations with HLC-accredited four-year colleges.) Inver Hills
College is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
(MnState), one of the two largest such U.S. college and university
systems..